Citizen input sought on big Branders Bridge projects

Monday

CHESTERFIELD – County and state officials are seeking input from the public about the Matoaca Mega Site, a massive economic development project announced last month, and a long-planned road project that's been jump-started to support the proposal.

Three community meetings are scheduled next week to provide information and gather public comments on the Mega Site plan, announced Aug. 31 at a press conference attended by Gov. Terry McAuliffe and other state and local dignitaries on the steps of the historic county courthouse.

The plan is for the county's Economic Development Authority to acquire a parcel of about 1,675 acres along Branders Bridge Road that was rezoned 10 years ago for a massive housing development, Branner Station. Work never started on that massive, 5,000-home development because the national housing market hit the skids soon after the rezoning.

Calling the location "the perfect site," McAuliffe explained that when large manufacturers look to build new factories, they need to be able to get them running quickly, which means they're looking for locations where construction can get going immediately and the company can draw on existing resources including transportation access and especially the kind of large, skilled labor force that can only be found in a sizable metropolitan area.

With the Chesterfield site available, McAuliffe said, he believes the state can land a project that would invest billions of dollars and create up to 10,000 direct and indirect new jobs.

The site does have one drawback, however: no direct links to the interstate highway system and no direct rail access.

To address that shortcoming, officials have dusted off part of a long-dormant plan to build an East-West Connector highway to link Interstate 95 and I-295 with the Hull Street corridor at the county's far western end.

On the county's wish list since 1989, the four-lane freeway appears to finally be moving forward, as county transportation officials are now engaged in the preliminary design stage of one section of it running from Jefferson Davis Highway to Branders Bridge Road.

In advertising a public comment period on the road's potential impact on waterways in the area, the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) noted that "The proposed right-of-way will encompass approximately 88 acres and extend approximately two-and-a-half miles ... The grade-separated, limited-access highway will have four lanes, two in each direction, separated by a median."

In addition, DEQ noted, "The proposed corridor is also scheduled to include a freight rail connection from the CSX line east of U.S. Route 1 to an area just west of Branders Bridge Road."

The highway and rail line, according to DEQ, will pass through an area that "consists primarily of single-family residential lots and associated infrastructure, including roadways and utilities located north and south of the project alignment."

Maps of the proposed right of way posted on the county Transportation Department's website (www.chesterfield.gov/RoadProjects/ ) show the route starting on Jefferson Davis Highway directly across from Ruffin Mill Road, crossing Timsberry Creek and running west through the middle of Harrowgate Elementary School, then crossing Harrowgate Road and running through a wooded strip between the Windsor Hills and Treeland Heights neighborhoods, finally intersecting with Branders Bridge Road in the 15500 block.

The maps do show that some residential properties, along with Harrowgate Elementary, will be displaced by the project, but the actual number of such properties was unavailable on Monday.

DEQ is accepting comments on the possible impact of the road on waterways until Oct. 12. To submit a comment or request information, contact John Fisher, DEQ Central Office, 6th Floor, Office of Environmental Impact Review, 629 East Main St., Richmond VA 23219; or call (804) 698-4339; or email john.fisher@deq.virginia.gov .

The county will hold three community meetings on the Mega Site plan next week:

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